


Copies of myself across paradox space

by Alter_E



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Break Up, Chap 2:, Chap 3:, Crack, Every chapter is a different prompt, Fluff, Happy 413 lads, Hint of Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, No beta we die like me trying to get this in on time, Selfcest, Slice of Life, Suggestive Themes, Twitch Chat, aka Call me ;) - the ship, chap 1:, clone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:37:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23633395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alter_E/pseuds/Alter_E
Summary: A long-distance relationship, a breakup and a clone(Or: Three different prompts in three different chapters, ranging from fluff, angst to crack. Enjoy the emotional rollercoaster, friends.)
Relationships: Daniel Condren/Kevin O'Reilly, Kevin O'Reilly/Kevin O'Reilly
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39
Collections: 413 Fic Exchange





	1. Kevin's calling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InsideMyBrain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsideMyBrain/gifts).

> Happy 413 everyone! And happy fic exchange! 
> 
> There's already a disclaimer in the collection but I do feel the need to say it again: Yes, this is a thing. Yep, this is a fanfic for the lads. No, don't drag this fic kicking and screaming into anyone's face, just leave it be in this corner of the internet.
> 
> I got three amazing prompts from InsideMyBrain so I figure, why not go for all three?  
Title is specifically because i do 3 prompts, no funky space fuckery here....yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt no.1: day in the life type fic about them in a long distance relationship, and what little things in their lives remind them of each other
> 
> There's less of "the lil things that remind them of each other" than I'd like but I hope this is good anyway.

**2 AM:**

Daniel collapses on his bed, letting out a sigh as the tiredness of the day catches up to him. He rolls over, getting comfortable under the blanket before pulling out his phone and tapping on Whatsapp. 

Kevin usually finishes recording around this time, and look, he just wants to see Kevin for a bit before sleep claims him, alright? He has all the right to miss his boyfriend, thank you very much.

The minutes tick by, him killing time by going through the rest of the messages he has been ignoring, replying to some and chatting to others before Kevin finally sends something to him. He clicks on the notification, smiling at the “asleep yet?” and sending back a “no.”

Kevin calls him seconds after his message is sent, and he clicks accept just as fast. The connection takes another second but when it finally loads Kevin’s smiling at him, and he smiles back. 

“Hey,” He greets, and Kevin chuckles. He is still sitting at the setup, the green screen behind him and there’s a certain tiredness in his voice though Daniel doubts he sounds any better right now. “I don’t think you’ll be awake right now.”

“Waiting for you,” He answers honestly. “Maybe next time record your video at a more normal time, Kev.”

“Duly noted. How are you?”

“Sleepy,” and getting sleepier as Kevin’s voice warms him inside out better than the blanket could ever. “You?”

“I’m just about to pass out as well,” Kevin says, standing up and stretching. He can see a bit of the pale skin when the shirt gets hitched up with the movement, and now he misses the feel of his finger tracing words and patterns on Kevin. Fucking- “Go to sleep, Dan.”

“Miss you,” He grumbles, and Kevin laughs again. 

“We can talk more in the morning. Sweet dreams.”

“Love you too,” Daniel mutters, and the sight of the sudden blush that colours Kevin’s face is definitely good dream fuel. “See you tomorrow?”

“Duh. Now sleep before I come over and knock you unconscious.”

“Please do.”

**10 AM:**

He wishes it’s the alarm that wakes him up instead of this string of message notification, pinging again and again and again and god damns it- He snatches his phone, unplugging the charger and swipes it open. 

Kevin: hi

Kevin: HI 

Kevin: just hoping you can get back to me

Kevin: Staring to worry me

Kevin: HELLO?

Kevin: Are you ignoring me?

Kevin: Did i do something?

Kevin: Are you sleeping?

Kevin: please return my messages, its been over 40 seconds

Kevin: if this is some kind of twisted joke to make me worry it is not funny

Daniel: Hi, just got up

Kevin: dan i am busy right now. Sorry

He wants to be mad, and he is just a bit mad but also that is so Kevin that he giggles anyway. He has been warned about this by Kevin’s friend, but experiencing this first hand is a whole different thing. 

But now that Kevin has so rudely gotten him awake, he might as well get out of bed and get on with his day. Probably. The bed is very warm and comfortable after all. 

Kevin: get up

Kevin: dan

Kevin: im done now

Kevin: help

Kevin: dont leave me like this

Or not.

Daniel: I’m up, now what?

Kevin: what should i eat for breakfast?

Daniel: You wake me up

Daniel: For this?

Kevin: yeah

Daniel: cereal

Kevin: thx

His stomach rumbles at the mention of food, and Daniel groans again. Fine, he needs to eat something to get the energy to edit and stream later anyway.

**12 PM: **

The Jack & Jones sweater hangs loosely on him, way too big as expected. It warms him up, and Daniel lets himself smile before heading out to be an actual responsible adult and buy groceries. 

Well, not before taking a picture of him wearing it and sending it to Kevin.

His phone pings with an array of love emojis a few minutes later, and his steps feel lighter as he walks to Tesco.

**3 PM:**

He starts up his stream, posting the notification on discord and twitter before letting himself reading through the chat. Names he recognised in the midst of the madness that is twitch chat appears every now and then, or for someone appears one too many times but Daniel smiles and says hello to his audience anyway. 

They’re just streaming something chill today, more of a Q&A thing going on more than the actual game itself and with the chill background music going he’s rather content. 

Kevin popping in the chat at some point to make fun of him and make him laugh aloud only makes the afternoon more enjoyable.

**7 PM:**

The stream’s finished, his dinner is finished but the editing isn’t. Daniel groans, dreading it already but sits down on his computer and pulls up the VOD anyway. It’s not like he doesn’t like editing, but he’s just a bit tuckered out after a longer stream than usual, you know? Still, a schedule is a schedule, and he sits through it anyway.

The editing does give him a chuckle or two though, jokes being replayed back to his ears giving him a bit more energy to pull through.

He half wants to call Kevin, knowing full well he will procrastinate the fuck out of editing. Kevin rings him first before he can even make a decision, and who’s Daniel to not answer?

“Hey there,” Kevin greets him, and he smiles back before remembering Kevin can’t see him right now. He switches to a video call, and a few seconds later Kevin’s looking back at him with an equally beaming smile on his face. “How are you doing?”

“Been a long day,” is his reply and Daniel stretches in his seats, feeling his back cracking. Oh yeah, he has been sitting down for way too long. “You?”

“Just finished going through all of my emails,” Kevin replies, shrugging. “I will be doing the Patreon stream in a bit and then get recording for tomorrow, I think.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Yeah, so I might just be a bit late tonight,” he continues, and Daniel nods. “Don’t wait up, dude. Get your beauty sleep.”

They both know Daniel won’t sleep until Kevin has called in anyway, but still, Kevin worrying is nice. “Sure,” He grumbles, and Kevin laughs. The sound is a bit glitchy then, connection problem probably and he frowns. Damn the internet for taking Kevin’s laughter away. 

“What’s up?” Kevin asks, and right- even if the audio’s a bit fucked doesn’t mean Kevin is not looking at him.

“You sound like a robot just there.”

“Ah- sh-sssugar,” he curses, “Give me a moment.”

Daniel watches as his boyfriend leans closer to the screen, probably checking the connection before the image freezes. Must be turning his wifi off and on again, if he has to guess. That leaves him here, with the sudden silence and he sighs.

He looks at the screen away, his eyes taking in Kevin’s face before focusing on his lips. They have kissed a lot before, the awkward first one and the chasted sweet goodbye, and a few makeout in between like they are teenagers again, and he wants to kiss Kevin again. And again. And Again. 

It has been a while since he has seen Kevin anyway, four months since New Year. 

He feels rather bereave right now.

“Dan?” Kevin asks, and he blinks back to reality. Kevin’s moving, his voice is coming through clear, and Daniel doesn’t even notice that Kevin has reconnected. “You’re sure you’re alright?”

Kevin’s looking at him with those blue eyes that are dulled in colour by the quality. He swallows. “Just thinking.”

“Bout?”

“Editing,” He says, not quite a lie. “Can we keep this going while I finish this video?”

“Of course,” Kevin answers easily because that’s what they have been doing almost every day anyway. Why did he even ask in the first place when it’s so ingrained in his routine? 

He shrugs, trying not to worry too much as he settles back to his chair, leaning the phone on one of the books and turning his attention back to Premiere. Kevin hums a little before he quiets down too before it’s only the sound of his own voice filling the silence. 

He works for about half an hour straight, almost forgetting that he’s still in the call with Kevin. Almost. Kevin’s just that comfortable background present, and sometimes he hums a few notes - loud enough to remind Daniel that he’s still here but he doesn’t feel obligated to fill the silence. 

That- that’s nice.

Around the one hour mark, his back protesting and his hands yelling at him makes Daniel turn away from Premiere for just a moment and looks down at his phone. Kevin’s still there, of course he is, and he’s also looking at Daniel. 

“Now who’s being quiet?” He teases and takes a bit of pleasure when Kevin jumps. Daniel chuckles, and Kevin shots him the feck-you look through the screen. 

“I’m just enjoying the view.”

“I think staring is a better word for it, Kevin.”

“Maybe.”

Mutual laughter this time, not so robotic and his shoulders relax. “Is your video up?”

“Yeah, why?”

“So I can have a Kevin that is not just staring at me creepily,” He smiles before it turns softer. “Go do the Patreon things, Kev.”

“If you want me gone you could have just said it,” Kevin replies, and before Daniel can say anything back the call cuts out. The typing bubble appears second later with a simple heart emoji, and then “ttyl”

He sends an “I love you” back before throwing the phone away. Kevin’s last words repeat in his head, and Daniel curses. He’s joking, Kevin’s jokes are sometimes like that. The self-deprecating in his videos, it’s the norm. 

Not like Daniel cares when Kevin says he’s all alone. Or well, he cares, he always calls and checks up on Kevin after but he knows it’s the humour Kevin’s audience expects. Still, sometimes those bleed through, and Kevin saying that-

Looks like he’s done for the night, he won’t be able to process anything besides those words.

**3 AM:**

He's not asleep yet, what a surprise. The blue light from his phone illuminates the room, and Daniel sighs into the pillow he’s holding. Kevin wasn’t lying when he said he will be late today - hell, he might have had enough footage to last him a few days at this rate. 

He looks at the digital clock, wonders if he should go to bed for the hundredth time that night, shaking his head slightly and continuing down twitter. A few tweets liked here, a few statuses replied there, and he lets himself lost in the mindless stream of social media: moving to Instagram when twitter has bored him and then jumping over to Facebook to chat with a few friends before inevitably ending up on twitter again. Just for the hell of it, he tweets out another dumb joke that will probably go places on those memes Reddit.

It’s another 10, maybe 20 minutes more when a notification pops up: Kevin liking his newest tweet. Seconds later there’s a DM from Kevin, and he clicks on it lazily. 

“You’re still awake? Rly?” He reads aloud, shrugging before typing back a cheesy “I miss you.”

His phone rings right after his reply is sent off, and Daniel grins. “Hey.”

“You look like shite,” Kevin says with a shit-eating grin of his own. “Why are you not in bed yet?”

“Waiting for you.”

“It’s 3 AM.”

He shrugs. “So?”

Kevin shrugs back. “It must have been a long day for you, the stream was longer than usual. Seriously, you should get some sleep.”

“Says the one who’s still recording at this time of day.”

“I got a sponsor, so they can get another video, as a treat,” Kevin says, before the room around him shifts - ah, it’s just Kevin standing up and moving to his bedroom. “What’s your excuse?”

“Just wanted to tell you that I love you?” 

“Not a good enough excuse for you not sleeping,” he says but the blush on his pale skin sends a different message. Daniel giggles to himself. “But yeah, love you too.”

“You know I would always want you here, yeah?”

Kevin pauses. Daniel watches as he lays down and gets comfortable on his own bed, hugging a spare pillow close much like what he’s doing right now. He misses the solid weight of Kevin pressing close to him, the warmth and everything but for now, it’s only the warmth of his phone heating up from having it on for too long. 

“Yeah,” Kevin breathes out. “I do.”


	2. over you, not over you, over you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt no 2: post break-up angst abt them dealing with telling their fans that they’re not together anymore 
> 
> Again, I kinda went off a bit here with Kevin never sharing anything bout his love life on the internet. I was tempted to add a few public breakup tweets kind of thing (something one of them have done) but in the end, this is what I got. Again, hope you enjoy.

“And how are you and Kevin?” Daniel reads the donation out and sighs for the tenth time that night. This question has popped up so many times already, not only in this stream but so many others before that too. He forces a cheerful tone, and says the same thing he has been saying: “We’re not together anymore man.”

No matter how many times he has said it, it still doesn’t get any less painful. He has hoped that putting out a tweet a few weeks back is enough for his audience to not bring this up, but every time there has to be someone that asks that question. He feels like they’re bringing this up with the sole purpose of annoying him, and damn it if it isn’t working. 

* * *

Him yelling, Kevin saying something back. A huff from Kevin, and then he’s swinging on his jacket and walking out. He doesn’t even remember what they were fighting about, something small and inconsequential perhaps, something that can be easily resolved if one of them didn’t blow up. And again, he doesn’t even remember who causes the spark, he just remembers the aftermath.

Dragging himself to bed, struggling to sleep. His pillow must be ruined from all the crying, but whatever.

It's a dreamless dream, and he's just a bit thankful.

* * *

“Will we still be doing- Yes, there are collabs planned in the future.”

* * *

When Daniel wakes up, the spot beside him is cold. He tries to not let that bother him too much, and just rolls out of bed and gets on with his morning routine. He tries to ignore the fact that when he walks past the guest bedroom, he can tell Kevin is in there just by the door that doesn’t close properly. He tries to ignore Kevin’s hangover state when he gets downstairs a few moments later, right on time. 

Tries and fails, of course.

“How are you?” Daniel asks, and Kevin looks up with tired eyes. He didn't sleep well last night, that much is obvious and Daniel only grimaces slightly at the sight. He slides Kevin a cup of coffee with too much milk and sugar in it - just the way he likes.

“Thanks,” Kevin mutters, before taking a small sip. “We still have some Advil, yeah?”

“At the same place,” He nods, and Kevin sends him a grateful smile before heading to the bathroom. 

He sighs, taking a minute to himself and asks what went wrong. 

He and Kevin, they were having such a good thing going on. It was great, perfect even and now it is this tense silence, this awkward eye contacts every morning. It was him leaning in for a kiss and Kevin giving him a small smile before leaning down and closing the gap, and now it is Kevin flinching away from the slightest of touch. It was them, and now it...he isn’t even sure if there is any them anymore.

What the fuck went wrong?

“A lot. We need to talk, Dan,” Kevin says, and he doesn’t even realise Kevin is back much less he just says that aloud. 

“After breakfast, you must be dying from last night,” He says back, and Kevin gives him a look before nodding.

* * *

“Enough about Kevin, come on. I’ve answered all of this already. We’re moving on-”

* * *

He’s moving on, everything is fine. It doesn’t hurt at all when he goes through his gallery and sees Kevin and him posing in dumb silly photos together, doesn’t hurt at all when the ghost of Kevin’s touch, Kevin’s voice, Kevin’s everything still lingers in his head, doesn’t hurt at all when Kevin says “I don’t think we should do this anymore.”

He nods. 

“And? Are you going to say anything?”

“No,” Daniel answers, and he knows that that is the pettiest thing he can say but he- he can’t say that he doesn’t see this coming, but the fact that it is happening right now still doesn’t register properly in his head. “It is what it is. We’re done now.”

“Okay,” Kevin breaths out. “That wasn’t so bad.”

Yes, it was. “No, it wasn’t.”

He hates the numbness more than the cold.

* * *

“Seriously, you guys need to follow my twitter more,” He says, chuckling when the mods spam the link in the chat. “It’s where I post stream notices, announcements and just a few photos here and there so yeah, go follow me.”

* * *

“Are we telling them?” He asks, and Kevin sends him a raised eyebrow. “The fans.”

“Ah, right,” Kevin looks back down at his phone, shrugging. “Sure.”

He says it so casually like he couldn’t care less about it and maybe Kevin really couldn’t. He has never made their relationship a public thing, never posted anything about Daniel. Their interaction had stayed relatively the same. It’s mostly him that uploads random short clips of Kevin, picture of them holding hands, picture of Kevin looking at him like he’s his entire world.

It feels nice, to be out like this, to be able to show the world that he loves Kevin and that Kevin loves him back.

Loved.

“I’ll get on with that then,” He mutters, and Kevin hums. It doesn't soothe his heart anymore.

“You do you.”

* * *

**RTGame Daniel **@RTGameCrowd · 27 minutes

Hey guys, just wanted to announce that me and Kevin are no longer dating. I wish him the best life.

1623 retweets · 12k likes

* * *

The reply is a mixed bag of “finally, took you long enough”, “I wish you two the best” and “I’m sorry to hear that.” He answers a few of them, thanking for the good wishes and shutting down the more unpleasant if not downright disrespectful and homophobic comments. His community is better than this.

Kevin stays silent on his end, not even retweeting the original tweet. Daniel doesn’t know what he’s expecting. At least he liked the first tweet where he announced that they’re dating, and it will show up on his followers’ timeline and it is an acknowledgement that yes, yes we are together. 

Were. Whatever.

It’s just another relationship that went bad anyway.

He tries not to focus too hard on that original tweet, where his fans genuinely feel better knowing he’s bi. There have always been flags popping up during the Minecraft build stream and the secret gay club that has become an iconic thing but to actually know your favourite creator is also- he knows the impact. Of course, he does. 

Even without the fans saying in his DM, or in the chat, or in real life at cons that they’re so grateful that they’re not alone, that him being out helps them coming out to their friends and families, that him being out gives them the same confidence to be proud of who they are, Daniel knows. He knows it helps, this relationship between him and Kevin.

He knows. It's hard not to.

So maybe that’s why it’s harder to delete that tweet, and to delete any other interaction that comes off as too flirty, too close, too personal. 

He deletes their recent collabs on his channel too, where they all but flirted on stream. Cloe had spared no expense with the editing, and it paints them out to be this cheesy lovey-dovey couple that is way into PDA too much. Which isn’t that far from the truth. 

Kevin’s videos are still up, getting over 500k views. He doesn’t want to scroll down to read the comments.

* * *

“Well, so much for continuing with the game,” Daniel sighs, looking at the bit notification. “Thank you for the bits and are you still friends? Yeah, we parted on good terms. It’s all fine, seriously.”

* * *

“I’m gonna have to swing by to pick up a few other things too,” Kevin says, and Daniel nods. Fair enough really, they have been living together for a few months and Kevin has really dug out a place for himself in Daniel’s house. 

“It’s fine. I can help to gather the rest of your stuff too.”

“Much appreciated.”

He shrugs. It will be stray shirts Kevin haphazardly throw off before crawling under the blanket, the second toothbrush that has become a familiar sight, the equipment next room. It will be easy to get it done in a day or two. 

Should be, but he has always been sentimental. Maybe he will hug the shirt close, maybe the toothbrush will stay, maybe he will just sit in front of Kevin’s camera and think about a better day. A better life. 

“Are we still up for Portal 2 this Saturday?” Daniel asks before he even realises, and Kevin gives him a smile. 

“Sure.”

* * *

They don’t play Portal 2 on Saturday, instead, he chooses a different game to play and puts on a brave face and starts the stream. The chat goes wild, but instead of the usual early messages, it’s speculation about his relationship, or lack thereof right now. People being upset, people being happy, it’s like twitter again but this time with a lot more confusion.

He sighs.

There will be a lot of answering question tonight it seems. 


	3. Call me ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt no 3: ok so you know in the sims how you can clone sims if they have the mad scientist profession... and how [someone] had that idea about them getting trapped in the sims universe... kevcest time lets go baby 
> 
> Funnily enough, some of us were talking about ship name and Kevcest got the Call me ;) while Dancest got the Dancler. There is no actual fucking here, more of a *fade to black* kind of deal but because of this Im rating the fic M, just to be safe.
> 
> This is also on a short side but who cares, I have to add Kevin O'Reilly/Kevin O'Reilly in the tag so might as well throw this in.

Kevin should be more surprised, looking at...well, himself but for some reason, he’s not that shocked. It’s not quite a carbon copy, the Kevin standing in front of him is clearly younger, his glasses askew on his face. He barely remembers what it’s like to wear glasses, after the eye surgery. 

Still, age aside, he now has a Past-Kevin in his living room, looking confused. Of course he is, anyone would be confused in this situation.

Kevin smiles. He has succeeded, his effort for the past 4 months has paid off. Cloning seems to be such a faraway dream when he first started, but people around him don't call him a mad scientist for anything.

He is just a bit off with the age, but otherwise, everything is working perfectly.

“Hey there friend,” He starts and Past-Kevin jerks up to look at him. “How’s it going?”

Past-Kevin opens his mouth to say something, an answer maybe before snapping it close. Despite himself, he chuckles.

“My name’s Kevin, but I figure you know that already,” He continues, and Past-Kevin nods. “I’d say you have time travelled, but no. You are a clone, a younger one but a clone nonetheless. Welcome to life.”

Past-Kevin laughs nervously, his eyes darting around, taking in the machine and equipment in Kevin’s basement. “Right- That’s not weird at all.”

“Nope!” He answers brightly. “But staring at a younger me is pretty weird, not gonna lie.”

“You don’t say,” Past-Kevin says, standing up properly and walking closer to Kevin. He’s a bit shorter, and Kevin would probably place this version of him at 20, 21 years old. “You’re looking pretty good though.”

“Not bad yourself,” He says back, and Past-Kevin blushes. Ah, still so easy to get flustered, past him. Just for the hell of it, he leans down closer, kissing Past-Kevin gently. He can feel his clone freezes up before relaxing, responding back hesitantly. 

When they part, Past-Kevin looks breathless. That sight is enough to make Kevin double over laughing, ignoring Past-Kevin’s squeak of embarrassment. 

He remembers the classic question of “would you fuck a clone of yourself?” and Kevin supposes he has his answer. Not quite “To be honest, fucking my clone has always been my fantasy” because he really didn’t start this with that intention in his head, but the “I'd fuck my clone because who would know better how to fuck ME than  _ ME _ ?” would be closer. 

And maybe tomorrow he can try the “Not only would I have sex with my clone, I'd probably make a bunch of clones and just get it on with all of them at once because that's how pro clone-fucking I am.“

That’s tomorrow's work though, and he can worry about that tomorrow. Right now, Past-Kevin is still standing there, looking unsure of himself and Kevin looks up again, grabbing Past-Kevin’s hand and pulls him to the bedroom. Past-Kevin follows without any hesitation, and he has a feeling even Past-Kevin is not that dumb to not know what is coming up next.


End file.
